October is National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month

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The Center for Disease Control shared that Bullying is any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) toward a youth by another youth or group of youths, who are not siblings or current dating partners, involving an observed or perceived power imbalance. These behaviors are repeated, or have the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying can happen in person and electronically (known as cyberbullying) and can occur at school or in other settings. A recent study on youth risk behavior[12.1 MB] showed the following statistics:

Nineteen percent of U.S. high school students reported being bullied at school in the last year.

About 15 percent of U.S. high school students reported being bullied electronically in the last year.

“Cyberbullying” is bullying that takes places over digital devices and can occur through email, text message, social media, and other digital applications.

What CDC Is Doing

CDC works to prevent bullying before it starts. We support evidence-based actions in communities to effectively prevent bullying and other forms of youth violence. Research on preventing bullying is still developing, but the promising evidence is available for school-wide programs. Read more

Why Therapy is Essential for Treating Addiction

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September is National Recovery Month and  Tricia Moceo is passionate about sharing her story, as a mom in recovery, through writing and spreading awareness of addiction. Following is an article she composed for Healthy Lombard.

Most people assume the remedy for recovery involves detox and abstinence from drugs/alcohol. The truth is, this is only the beginning. Recovery is a lifelong process, one that requires discipline and most importantly intensive treatment and therapy. Addiction is usually a symptom of an underlying issue such as trauma, abuse, grief, and many other mental health disorders. Addiction has been named a “disease of the brain”. This complicated idea suggests that the issue stems from the brain. Complex and often confusing, this disease attacks the thinking and behaviors of an individual. Therapy is one of the most useful tools utilized to promote long-term sobriety.

There are many different types of therapy integrated into the recovery process. Almost all addiction programs recognize this and have found that there is not a one size fits all method to this approach. Behavioral therapy is perhaps the most effective in treating the root of addiction and preventing cravings and relapse. However, there are many different forms of therapy. The goal is to identify and address the fundamental issues the addict may be facing. For centuries, therapy has been used for treating addictions of all sorts. Read more

45% of teens are online ‘almost constantly.’ But is it good for them?

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Abby OhlheiserThe Washington Post shared that forty-five percent of teens say they are online “almost constantly,” according to a new Pew Research Center study on teens and social media use. That percentage has nearly doubled in just a few years: In a 2014-2015 Pew survey, just 24 percent of teens said the same.

Pew’s survey, released on Thursday, asked American teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 about their social media use.

“One of the questions we wanted to examine was how teens evaluate the impact of social media on their lives,” said Monica Anderson, a Pew research associate and the lead author of the study. After conducting the survey, Anderson said, Pew found that “there’s not really a strong consensus” on what that impact is.

In all, 89 percent of teens surveyed in 2018 said they were either online “almost constantly” or “several times a day,” with just 11 percent telling Pew they were online once a day or less.

That rise in the “almost constantly” category is likely linked to “a pretty big jump” in teens who have access to smartphones, Anderson said. Ninety-five percent of teens have access to a smartphone in 2018. Three years ago, Pew reported that 73 percent of teens said the same. Read more

There’s no place like home

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College of DuPage Nursing Student Erin O’Loughlin researched that the DuPage County Department of Economic Development and Planning reported in 2011 that 11.4% of DuPage County’s population are senior citizens. A senior citizen is anyone at or over the age of 65. Seniors can experience overall wellness through diet, exercise, healthy lifestyle, and other health promoting activities. However, some seniors begin to need more help with everyday life and health in order to remain living in their home safely. DuPage County is fortunate enough to a vast amount of resources and professionals to help seniors remain safe at home.

DuPage County Community Services has a Senior Services department to assist seniors to remain at home by using supportive resources. These support resources can include transportation vouchers, home care workers, adult day care, life alert buttons, food pantries, support groups, senior centers, senior activity groups, Meals on Wheels, and more. Low income residents can be assessed and educated about different state and county services. The county can also provide information about private services. According to Nursing Economics, these kinds of resources have been shown to help seniors improve thinking and reasoning, improve senior depression, reduce episodes of incontinence, decrease pain, and increase activities of daily living. Seniors may even qualify for routine home visits. Read more

How Music Helps with Mental Health – Mind Boosting Benefits of Music Therapy

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Music has been with us for thousands of years as a form of entertainment, communication, celebration, and mourning. There are so many different emotions that music can help us to express, and it is a language that we share universally, as well as one that everyone can understand.

The style of music that we listen to most and enjoy may change every decade, but that sense of communication and feeling always remains. If you, or someone close to you, suffer from mental health conditions, you may find that they listen to music quite a lot, or even play it.

Music has a way of helping us express emotions that we don’t even understand ourselves, and can put these feelings into meaningful lyrics, or just a tune that resonates with every fiber of our being.

For many, music is a lifeline that keeps them tethered to the world, and without it, so many of us would be lost entirely. It is because of this link that music therapy was developed, and it is a great way to learn how to channel your feelings and combat mental illness. As someone who suffers from crippling anxiety and waves of depression, I have always been interested in trying this form of therapy out.

Whether you like to play the music or listen to it, you might be surprised to discover how beneficial this form of treatment can be, and in this extensive article, we look at the different ways in which music therapy can boost mental health. Read more

Support for Women With a Disability

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Holli Richmond, Executive Director, President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition shared that regular moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity helps improve overall health and fitness and reduces the risk for many chronic diseases. Unfortunately, compared with men and boys, women and girls are less likely to participate in the recommended levels of physical activity needed to meet the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Additionally, individuals with a disability are less active than the general population.

The Office on Women’s Health and the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition (PCSFN) have partnered to ensure that women and girls with a disability have opportunities to be physically active and practice healthy eating behaviors through the I Can Do It! (ICDI) model. The ICDI model is used to assist schools and communities aiming to establish inclusive health promotion programs.

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Is texting good for your mental health?

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Hannah Natanson shared in The Washington Post that texting gets a bad rap. It’s blamed for everything from fostering social isolation to increasing teens’ risk of ADHD to driving down adolescent self-esteem to damaging the spine — a phenomenon known as “text neck.”

But some technological and medical experts say the negativity is unfair and overblown. Texting can and should be a positive force in people’s lives, both in terms of emotional and physical health, they say — so long as it’s used correctly.

“I have a reputation as sort of being the Darth Vader of anything that has to do with texting,” said MIT psychologist Sherry Turkle, author of “Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age.” “Which, of course, is not really what I have said or am saying — the problem really isn’t that people have this new, interesting, intimate way of touching base … the trouble is what happens to a face-to-face conversation if your phone is always there.”

If done well, Turkle and other experts said, texting can improve interpersonal relationships, help people deal with traumatic events and bridge intergenerational gaps.

Research backs this up: A 2012 study conducted by psychologists at the University of California at Berkeley found that sending and receiving text messages boosted texters’ moods when they were feeling upset or lonely. Read more

Screen Time Use Linked to ADH

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Daniela Hernandez and Betsy Morris shared in the Wall Street Journal that the more teens use social media networking sites, video games and streaming services, the higher their risk of developing symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, a new study found.

The study, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, tracked 2,500 teens over two years and monitored their usage and symptoms.

It doesn’t prove a causal link. The study also didn’t rule out other possible causes such as lack of sleep, family stress at home or a family history of the disorder. But it was the first longitudinal study to follow so many teens over a two-year period, according to experts, going straight to an issue that pits parents and teachers against the tech industry in a battle for children’s attention.

“I don’t think it’s reason for panic. But I’m a clinician who sees kids with ADHD all the time, and I don’t want to see an increase,” says Jenny Radesky, a University of Michigan assistant professor of pediatrics, who specializes in developmental and behavioral health.

“Executive function and flexible problem solving—all that matters for long-term success,” she said. “Even if it’s a small increase in ADHD, I think that’s important.” Such skills are often affected by ADHD. Dr. Radesky, who wrote a JAMA editorial about the new study, wasn’t involved in the work.

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Self-Care: The Journey to Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle

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Paired with our expertise, the team at Jumo Health shared that encouraging a healthy lifestyle is essential for the growth and development of our youth. When we teach our kids self-care practices, they are likely to maintain these practices in order to evolve and thrive from adolescents into healthy adults. Self-care does not just pertain to physical health but it includes mental health as well. While childhood obesity and mental illness are not always mutually exclusive, they are commonly diagnosed as a result of the other.

Nearly 1 in 5 school age children and young people (aged 6 to 19 years) in the United States has obesity. Children who suffer from obesity are teased more than their peers of healthy weight, and therefore are more likely to suffer from social isolation, depression and lower self-esteem. However, there are ways in which we can encourage our children to take care of their body and their mind. Here are three self-care practices to start incorporating into our everyday lives:

 

Power a Healthy Mindset with Knowledge

According to Sarah Katula, an Advanced Psychiatric Nurse, conversations about the mental health of another person should begin with a casual chat. This facilitates the opportunity for a loved one or friend to point out a noticed behavior without accusation. In the particular scenario of childhood obesity, this is a conversation that will likely be started by a parent who notices a change in their child. Coping with any diagnosis can be challenging, and growing up diagnosed with obesity has its own particular set of challenges. Read more

The Habits of Highly Successful People

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     Milan Krstovic, Jr. Media Relations Associate, at  Porch and her team shared that perhaps we should forget “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” These days, gurus across the internet claim dozens of routines will put you on the path to fulfillment. In one camp, there are the evangelists of wholesome habits: Get up early, make your bed, and exercise, and you’ll inevitably encounter success. Then you have the mindfulness contingent, who says daily meditation will deliver clarity to even the most frazzled capitalists. Other habit-based programs take consistency to the extreme, suggesting eating and wearing the same things each day. If you’re skeptical of these well-intentioned suggestions, don’t kick yourself for your cynicism. It’s hard to know if any of these habits truly work for you––or anyone.

That’s why Data for Stories  experimented on its own, surveying over 1,000 people on how successful they feel in several major life areas. They then asked them about their habits to gain a statistical view of the practices that correlate most closely with fulfillment. If you’ve wondered which habits allow other people to achieve their purpose and prosperity, you won’t want to miss the results. Read on to see how successful people consistently spend the one resource they can’t replenish: their time. Read more